Conclusion

The conclusion brings together evidence and key findings on how and why the coffee-table book proliferated in the post-war era. Who were the publishers, what were the highlighted successes and the inevitable failures? As is the book publishing business. In locating this history of the coffee-table book, the research placed this artefact at the centre of a more holistic discourse about its role as a cultural and material object. Albeit, in a particular period and in the Anglophone world. The study focused on America, Britain and Australia, all of which shared similar cultural and social histories. Through an interdisciplinary approach the coffee-table book emerged not only in material form; the term “coffee-table book” was also reflected upon. Particularly its effect on the status of coffee-table books. This allowed the coffee-table book to be understood through the prism of the printing technology, social change, visual and material culture and enterprise. Darnton’s questions for book historians guided the research’s pathway. In particular, how did coffee-table books come into being? Three key factors enabled this: the proliferation and popularisation of the coffee-table book in the post-war era was due to disruptive technology, social change and the entrepreneurial and innovative efforts of publishers who championed the genre. The conclusion also offers suggestions for further areas of research in other countries, beyond the post-war era and the role of specific genre coffee-table books.